Oregon Air National Guard designates a unit as the 125th Special Tactics Squadron

The 244th Combat Communications Squadron becomes the 125th Special Tactics Squadron at a ceremony, scheduled for Sept. 9, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in front of Building 142 at Portland Air National Guard Base.

The 125th STS is one of only two in the Air National Guard. (The other is the 123rd STS in Kentucky). The 125th STS will include combat controllers. Combat controllers specialize in non-traditional ground combat missions. Their duties involve going into hard-to-reach combat environments and establishing assault zones while providing air traffic control operations. These crucial duties enable the Air Force to make any seemingly inoperable environment, operable. The 125th already supports state and federal missions. They have deployed members to provide assistance and relief after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as well as to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 125th STS is scheduled to be fully operable in 2007.

The 244th CBCS activated as the 244th Airways and Air Communications Service Engineering & Installation Squadron in July of 1956. The unit became known as the 244th CBCS in 1976.

Throughout the years, the 244th served as a shining example of an outstanding unit as illustrated by their honors/awards. Major General Gene Katke, an airman with the 244th later went on to become the first Air National Guard Officer to take the Adjutant General position for Oregon state. In 3 separate years, the 244th CBCS shared in the award for Air Force Outstanding Unit and received the Air Force Communications Command Air National Guard Outstanding Unit Achievement Award four times in nine years.